Multiple contact jack assembly



Nov. 29, 1966 J. A. PAWLOSKI MULTIPLE CONTACT JACK ASSEMBLY Filed April 28, 1954 gift r sil BY ;ze M?? M7@ TO 7M United States Patent O 3,289,149 MULTIPLE CNTACT JACK ASSEMBLY James A. Pawloski, East Woodstock, Conn., assigner to The Linernaster Switch Corporation, Woodstock, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Apr. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 363,139 10 Claims. (Cl. 339-183) The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and more particularly to a multiple contact jack assembly of a jack and jack plug having notable utility in telephone communication systems.

It is a primary aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved jack and jack plug having component parts of economical construction which may be assembled to provide an electrical connection with a selected number of electrical contacts.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and useful multiple contact jack plug designed for ready assembly and durabilityand reliability over a long period of usefulness.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved jack plug having a number of identical parts capable of economical mass production.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplied in lthe construction hereafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudial section view, partly broken away, of an embodiment of a jack plug of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse section view taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a reduced longitudinal view, partly broken away and with parts removed, of the jack plug of FIG. 1 installed in an embodiment of a jack of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a rear end view of the installation of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section View, partly broken away, of a contact lead of the jack plug of FIG. l; and

FIG. 6 is a partial longitudinal section View showing a modified jack plug of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings in more particularity, a multiple contact jack plug 1t) is shown in FIG. 3 installed within a complementary multiple contact jack 12 to complete an electrical connection between four electrical leads 14 (FIG. 1) within the plug and four terminal leads 15-18 extending rearwardly of the jack 12. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. l, the jack plug is composed of a unitary forward plug element 19 threaded onto the forward end of a rearwardly extending tubular housing element 20 thereby providing an elongated plug with the tubular housing for manually manipulating the plug for inserting and removing it from the jack 12. The tubular housing 20 is shown provided with a rear longitudinal opening 22 for receiving an electrical conduit 24 and a conduit-supporting sleeve or grommet 26. A cylindrical plug 23 is retained within the rear housing 20 between the rear axial face 30 of the plug element 19 and a shoulder 32 formed on the housing and is provided with a plurality of axial apertures with suitable female connectors 34 to which the lead wires 14 are suitably attached, as by soldering. The forward plug element 19 is formed to provide an annular flange 36 adapted for abutment with the forward end fo the housing 20 for assisting in securely attaching the forward plug and rear housing elements.

ICC

The plug element 19 is shown composed of a plurality of parts in longitudinal coaxial relationship including a forward rounded end contact 40 and three identical cylindrically shaped ring contacts 42 rearwardly spaced therefrom. Cylindrical insulators 44 which are preferably of identical construction provide for axially spacing the contacts 42, and a rear end insulator 46 provides the ange 36 and threaded connection with the rear housing 20. The insulators are preferably of molded plastic construction and the contacts 40, 42 may be conveniently constructed as of brass.

The forward end contact 40 has a rear axial face 52 and the insulators 44 and 46 have forward and rear axial faces with the opposed faces of adjacent parts being in contiguous abutting relationship. The forward end contact 40 is provided with a rearwardly extending annular llange 54, shown to be of the same outside and inside diameters as the cylindically shaped contacts 42, and the insulators 44 and 46 are provided with complementary annular recesses 56 extending axially from their axial faces to define annular grooves for receiving the flange 54 and the contacts 42.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the outside diameters of the insulators 44, 46 of the flange 54 and of the contacts 42 are preferably substantially equal whereby the external surace of the plug is generally smooth and of generally cylindrical configuration. As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the recesses 56 on the insulators 44, 46 are dirnensioned to provide for positioning the contacts 42 centrally about the engaging faces of the insulators where by the contacts 42 assist in giving rigidity to the plug element 19.

For providing electrical connection between the contact 4t), 42 and the female terminals 34,. wire conductor leads 60-63 are provided within axially extending apertures in the irisulators44, 46 and extend rearwardly of the rear face 3l) of the insulator 46 to provide male terminals for cooperation with the female terminals 34. The wire conductor 60 is located centrally within the insulators and within an aligned aperture 68 in the end conductor 4) and is staked, or otherwise secured, to the end conductor for which purpose the aperture 68 has` an enlarged forward chamfered opening 69. The central passage has an enlarged rear opening 70 receiving a sleeve or lug 72 secured, as by soldering, to the central wire 60 and with the forward'staking of the central wire ensures the longitudinal rigidity and security of the plug.

The remaining wire conductors 61-6-3 are preferably equally angularly spaced, as shown in FIG. 2. The wires 61-63 are preferably snugly received within the apertures in the insulators and thereby additionally act as reinforcing members for the plug. The wires 61-63 are electrically connected to the contacts 42 by lugs 74 secured to the Wires and received within complementary pockets 76 defined by the opposing contiguous faces of the insulators 44, 46. As best seen in FIG. 2, the lugs 74 are of generally cylindrical shape with outer arcuate edges 78 conforming to the inner cylindrical surface of the contacts 42 thereby ensuring good electrical contact therebetween. The pockets 76 are shown to be of conforming generally cylindrical shape, and, as seen in FIG. l, with the pocket formed by opposed aligned recesses in the contiguous faces of the insulators whereby the lugs 74 and pockets 76 may be axially dimensioned to provide a large area of engagement with the contacts 42. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, the pockets may be formed by a re'- cess 79 in only one of the opposed faces of the adjacent insulators, in which case the face of the forward -insulator of the two is preferably recessed so that each washer-like ylug 81 and its attached wire conductorl additionally act as aV reinforcing element between the two insulator parts.

For installing the plug element 19 onto the rear housing 20, the terminals of the wires 60-63 are iirst inserted within the female terminals 34 of the plug 28 for which purpose an aligning pin 80 may be affixed within a complementary passage in the insulator 46 for extension rearwardly into an aperture within the plug 28. The plug 28 is iirst positioned forwardly of its position shown in FIG. l for receiving the male terminals and the aligning pin Sil, which may be conveniently accomplished by merely feeding the conduit 24 forwardly within the sleeve 26. Thereafter, the plug I9 is threaded into the housing 20 until the annular flange 36 engages the forward end of the housing for frictionally securing the plug and housing elements as a unitary part.

It should be readily seen that the plug element 19 can be conveniently assembled to provide one or more of the electrical contacts 42. As the insulators 44 may be conveniently manufactured as .identical parts, one or more of the insulators 44 with a corresponding number of the contacts 42 may be assembled between the rear end insulator 46 and the forward end contact 40. A lug and an attached conductor is provided for each contact 42 with assembling of the lug and conductor wire being preferably followed by the insertion of a cylindrical ring contact 42 therearound, for which purpose the outer arcuate surface 78 of the lug may be axially tapered, as shown in FIG. 5, to ease the assembly of the ring contact and provide a slight interitting engagement with the ring Contact and thereby ensure a good electrical connection.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 3 and 4, the jack l2 is illustrated with a two-part housing 90 having a body portion 92 and a cap portion 94, both preferably of molded plastic construction and being removably secured together, as by a pair of fasteners 95. The housing 9) is shown to be of generally rectangular shape with a height substantially less than its lateral width, as shown in FIG. 4. The housing has a longitudinally extending passage 95 with a forward reduced opening 97 provided by an upstanding flange 98 and a boss liti@ formed integrally with the body portion 92 and dimensioned to snugly receive the plug element 19. The housing portions 92, 94 have engaging longitudinal parting surfaces intersecting the passage 96 and spaced above the axis of the opening 97, and the terminal leads 1 5-18 of the jack 12 are received within corresponding slots in the parting surface of the housing base 92. These slots are generally L- shaped, as shown in FIG. .3, `with longitudinally extending portions and inwardly extending portions and with the inwardly extending portions being longitudinally staggered on opposite sides of the passage 96. The terminal leads -18 are constructed of resilient sheet material and dimensioned for insertion within the L-shaped slots on the body portion and have inwardly convex rearwardly extending integral contact portions 50 for engagement with the contacts 40, 42 of the plug. In a well-known manner the end conductor 40 may be provided with a groove 110 for receiving one of the jack contacts and thereby resiliently retain the plug within the jack.

Thus it can be seen that the jack and jack plug of the present invention are designed with a minimum number of parts that may be readily assembled for providing a jack and jack plug with a selected number of electrical contacts. Additionally, the jack plug has an economical construction which is rigid and durable, which ensures good electrical connection and which gives reliable operation over a long lifespan.

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modifications and adaptations of the structure above described will become readily apparent without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A multiple contact jack plug comprising; in coaxial relationship a front end contact, a rear end insulator, a plurality of additional insulators intermediate the end contact and end insulator, said end and intermediate insulators having front and rear axial faces with opposing faces of adjacent insulators in contiguous relationship, said insulators being contoured to dene peripheral axially extending annular grooves about their opposing contiguous faces and with the contiguous faces intermediate :the axial ends of the grooves, and a plurality of ring contacts of cylindrical shape received in said annular grooves; the contiguous faces of the insulators being contoured to define pockets inwardly of and in communication with the annular grooves, said insulators having a Icentral passage extending rearwardly from said end contact and a plurality of angularly spaced axial passages extending rearwardly from said pockets to the rear face of the end insulator, bare wire conductors in said axial passages extending rearwardly from the end contact and from the pockets and conductor lugs within said pockets integrally secured to the wire conductors extending rearwardly from the pockets respectively and in electrical engagement with the internal cylindrical surface of the ring contacts.

2. The multiple contact jack plug of claim 1 wherein the pockets are formed by opposed aligned recesses in both of the contiguous faces, and wherein the lugs are received in the opposed aligned recesses.

3. A multiple contact jack plug comprising; in coaxial relationship a front end `contact part, a rear end insulator part, a plurality of additional insulator parts intermediate the end contact and end insulator parts, said end contact part having a rear axial face and said insulator parts having front and rear axial faces and with opposing faces of adjacent parts being in engagement, said insulator parts being contoured to define peripheral annular recesses extending axially from said opposing faces and thereby define peripheral grooves about the opposed faces of the insulator parts, and ring contacts of cylindrical shape in the grooves; said end contact part having a peripheral flange of cylindrical shape extending rearwardly from its rear face and received in an annular recess of one of the additional insulator parts, the insulator parts and the end contact part providing a central axial passage through the plug with enlarged openings at its front and rear ends, a central terminal wire received in the central passage and extending rearwardly of the rear face of the end insulator part to provide a terminal for the end contact par-t, said central terminal wire being provided with enlargements within the enlarged openings to longitudinally secure the jack plug, the opposed faces of the insulator parts being contoured to deline generally cylindrical pockets angularly spaced about the central passage, said pockets being inwardly of and in communication with the annular grooves, said insulator parts having angularly spaced axial passages exten-ding rearwardly from the pockets to the rear face of the end insulator part, additional wires received in said angularly spaced passages and extending rearwardly of the rear face of the end insulator part to provide terminals for the ring contacts, and generally cylindrical lugs secured to said additional wires and received in the pockets for electrical engagement with the ring contacts.

4. The multiple contact jack plug of claim 3 wherein the lugs have outer arcuate surface portions substantially conforming to the inner cylindrical surfaces of the ring contacts and in engagement therewith.

5. The multiple contact jack plug of claim 4 wherein the outer arcuate surface portions of the lugs are axially Itapered to provide interltting engagement with the ring contacts.

6. In a multiple contact jack plug having, in coaxial relationship a plurality of ring contacts and insulator means maintaining adjacent ring contacts in axially spaced relationship, and electrical conductors providing for electrical connection with the ring contacts, the irnprovemcnt wherein the insulator means comprises at least one generally cylindrical insulator part having axial faces at the ends thereof and being contoured to dene a peripheral annular recess extending axially from one of its faces for receiving one of the axially spaced ring contacts, said insulator part having a generally cylindrical recess in said one face in communication with the peripheral recess, and wherein the electrical conductors comprise a wire extending axially from said recess and a generally cylindrical lug secured to the -wire and received in said recess, said lug having an axially tapered outer surface in intertting engagement with said one ring Contact.

7. A jack for a multiple Contact jack plug comprising, a two-part housing having an elongated passage therein with a reduced circular forward opening for receiving the jack plug, said two-part housing including body and cap portions with longitudinally extending engaging generally flat parting surfaces intersecting the passage above the axis thereof, the parting surface of the body portion having nonintersecting L-shaped slots therein on opposite sides of the longitudinal passage, said L-shaped slots having longitudinally extending portions forwardly terminating in inwardly extending portions opening into said passage, said inwardly extending portions being longitudinally staggered on opposite sides of the passage, and generally L-shaped sheet metal conductors received in the L-shaped slots having at their inner ends and within said passage rearwardly extending inwardly convex contact portions.

8. The multiple contact jack plug of claim 1 wherein the bare wire conductors are straight and extend rearwardly of the rear face of the end insulator to provide contact terminals.

9. In a multiple contact jack plug having, in coaxial relationship a plurality of generally cylindrical ring contacts and insulator means maintaining adjacent ring contacts in axially spaced relationship, and electrical conductors in electrical connection with the ring contacts, the improvement wherein the insulator lmeans is contoured to define peripheral annular recesses for receiving the axially spaced ring contacts and pockets radially inwardly of and in communication with the peripheral recesses, and wherein the electrical conductors in electrical connection with the ring contacts comprise bare wires extending axially from said pockets, andi lugs integrally secured to the wires and mounted in said pockets .in electrical engagement with the internal cylindrical surface of the ring contacts.

10. The improvement of claim 9 wherein the lugs have outer arcuate surface portions substantially conforming to the inner cylindrical surfaces of the ring contacts and in engagement therewith.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,183,911 12/1939 Howell 339-183 3,034,091 5/1962 Gluck 339-210 X 3,154,360 10/1964 Plishner .339--177 FOREIGN PATENTS 210,903 2/ 1924 Great Britain. 804,519 11/ 1958 Great Britain.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examiner.

W. DONALD MILLER, Examiner. 

1. A MULTIPLE CONTACT JACK PLUG COMPRISING; IN COAXIAL RELATIONSHIP A FRONT END CONTACT, A REAR END INSULATOR, A PLURALITY OF ADDITIONAL INSULATORS INTERMEDIATE THE END CONTACT AND END INSULTOR, SAID END AND INTERMEDIATE INSULATORS HAVING FRONT AND REAR AXIAL FACES WITH OPPOSING FACES OF ADJACENT INSULATORS IN CONTIGUOUS RELATIONSHIP, SAID INSULATORS BEING CONTOURED TO DEFINE PERIPHERAL AXIALLY EXTENDING ANNULAR GROOVES ABOUT THEIR OPPOSING CONTIGUOUS FACES AND WITH THE CONTIGUOUS FACES INTERMEDIATE THE AXIAL ENDS OF THE GROOVES, AND A PLURALITY OF RING CONTACTS OF CYLINDRICAL SHAPE RECEIVED IN SAID ANNULAR GROOVES; THE CONTIGUOUS FACES OF THE INSULATORS BEING CONTOURED TO DEFINE POCKETS INWARDLY OF AND IN COMMUNICA- 